


Five Times Someone Thought Kimberly and Trini Were Dating and One Time They Actually Were

by predilection



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 05:20:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10550736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: The first time it happens is at the café after Kim and Trini duel over the last bite of a chocolate-chip muffin.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the Donut Scene, which will now be referred to as the Muffin Scene so this fic doesn't read as an ad for Krispy Kreme.
> 
> Warnings for bullying, homophobia, emotional abuse, Rita being creepy, monsters kidnapping a character, a character being held still against their will, and a character being wounded, though I promise this is actually a happy fic with a happy ending!
> 
> Also, a big thank you to A for reading this over and giving the best advice.

**one**

The first time it happens is at the café after she and Trini duel over the last bite of a chocolate-chip muffin. After Trini eats it off the end of her fork while looking extremely smug, Kim laughs and offers to get them another one.

The barista behind the counter who takes her order tells her, "You and your girlfriend are really cute."

It takes Kim a moment to process what the barista just said and she shakes her head. "Oh no, we're not together," she starts to say, but the barista has already moved away to grab the muffin out of the case. 

When Kim carries the muffin back to the table, she thinks, briefly, about what the barista implied, and then dismisses it easily. After all, she barely knows Trini and she doesn't know if she'd even be remotely interested in someone like her.

 

**two**

The day after they confess their secrets over a campfire, Kim asks Trini where she lives. It turns out that her house is five blocks from Kim's, so Kim offers to drive her to school.

"Are you sure?" Trini asks.

Kim shrugs. "You're on my way and it saves you from taking the bus."

Trini agrees so Kim parks outside her house the next morning at 8:30am sharp. 

They meet up after school by Trini's locker and Kim drives her home too. They end up talking about music, and while Trini isn't the most talkative person, Kim gets Trini to tell her about her favorite band.

A week later, she and Trini are walking to her car after school when she spots Amanda and Harper heading their way. They stop directly in front of Kim and Trini, blocking their path, and Kim crosses her arms over her chest and waits for the verbal tirade she knows is coming.

"We see you made a new friend," Amanda says, making a show of giving Trini the once-over. Then she smirks. "Or should I say girlfriend given how much you two flirt in biology?" 

She and Harper both laugh, and Kim's arms are uncrossed and at her sides in fists before she's even conscious she's moved. It's one thing for them to pick on her. It's another thing for them to pick on Trini, and about this, no less, but before she can think of a rebuttal, Trini sighs loudly. Kim glances over at her and if anything, she looks bored. "Did you come here just to be assholes?" she asks.

"Actually," Harper sneers, "we came to warn _you_."

Trini raises an unimpressed-looking eyebrow. "Warn me?"

"Yeah," Amanda says, taking a step closer to her. "Did she tell you what she did to me?" She looks pointedly at Kim. "You should ask her. Maybe then you'll think twice about associating with someone like her." 

Trini doesn't take a step back and says, "I only take warnings from people who know my name."

Amanda purses her lips like she's trying to remember what Trini's name is and Kim would find it funny if the circumstances were different. "Fine," Amanda eventually huffs and before she and Harper finally leave, she tells Trini, "Let her betray you." 

"Enjoy your date!" Harper calls out mockingly, and Kim's so angry that it's only when she feels Trini's arm on her bicep steering her towards her car that she comes back to herself.

"Ignore them," Trini tells her softly. "They're bullies."

Later, when they're parked outside of Trini's house, she tells Trini about what she did and how she's really just as horrible as Amanda and Harper made her out to be.

She doesn't expect Trini to get into her car again the next morning, but when she drives up to her house, Trini is standing at the end of her driveway. When she slides into the passenger seat, she doesn't speak, and Kim wonders why she even got into her car at all. 

It's only when they pull into the school parking lot that she realizes that Trini was quiet because she was using the time to mull over her words. She tells Kim, "So that was a really shitty thing you did. On the other hand, you know that it was shitty and I feel pretty confident that you're not planning to do it again." 

Trini reaches for the door handle and Kim reaches for her to stop her. "So we're okay?" she asks, hoping desperately for confirmation that her confession hasn't done irreparable damage to their friendship.

Trini looks over at her slowly and Kim notes that the left side of her mouth is quirked upwards in a small but genuine smile. "We nearly died together in a flaming pit under Krispy Kreme. I trust you to have my back."

She doesn't wait for Kim to reply. She gets out of the car. 

They've taken to walking to their lockers together, but today Kim is okay with Trini going on ahead of her. Both the relief that they're still friends and the recognition that she's changed for the better are a little overwhelming and she takes a moment to lay her forehead against the steering wheel, wipe the tears building her eyes, and breathe. 

She still feels shaky when she leaves her car, but her eyes are dry, and they stay that way right up until she finds Trini waiting for her by the school doors. 

 

**three**

She and Trini pair up for a project in biology. They work on it after school in the library, and when they realize it's going to take longer than they originally thought, Kim suggests that they go back to her place.

"Can't," Trini says. "If I'm late for dinner, my mom will be pissed. I can meet up with you later though."

She doesn't ask Trini why they can't work on it at her house. She's gathered that Trini's home is hostile for her in more ways than one and that her mother is very controlling. So she's surprised the when Trini invites her over two days later.

As Kim starts to agree, Trini cuts her off to say, "My mom wants to meet you because she wants to you to see if you're good enough to be my friend or something. She's going to ask you a hundred uncomfortable questions. It's probably going to suck."

"Probably?" Kim asks playfully, hoping for levity.

Trini shrugs and tells her, "I've never really brought friends home before. I've never really had them." 

She doesn't give Kim a chance to digest that statement or the emotions it churns up in her choosing instead to give her a run-down of what to expect.

Kim thinks she's prepared for the worst, but then just after she's introduced herself and shook Trini's mom's hand, the first words out of Trini's mom's mouth are, "I heard you're no longer on the cheer team. Why is that?"

The evening goes downhill from there, with Trini's mom fishing for information about Kim's previous friendships dating back to elementary school, and also asking invasive questions about Kim's family and health. Kim does her best to remain polite even though Trini's mom is obviously looking for a reason to hate her. 

The only things that make it bearable are the way Trini's little brothers seem to think Kim is cool, making approving noises at her answers, and way Trini rolls her eyes at her mom's questions and catches Kim's eye as if to say, "I'm sorry and also this is why I hate living in this house." 

When Trini's mom asks Kim how many men she's dated, Trini suddenly gets defensive, "She's my friend and she came here to work on an assignment. Can you just stop?"

Her mom turns to Trini and says unpleasantly, "You're two spend a lot of time together and she drives you to school every day, dear. You can't think I believe that she's only just your friend."

"What?" Trini asks, and it's only because Kim has come to know her that she can read the genuine distress and anger on her face. 

"This is about you being a lesbian," her mom says, and Kim's on her feet before she knows what's happened. 

"Wait, did you invite me here just to make Trini miserable? Because you think we're dating?" There are so many things wrong with this whole dinner and with what Trini's mom is saying that she doesn't know where to begin.

Her mom starts to say something about wanting what's best for Trini but Kim cuts her off. She remembers keenly what Trini has said about labels and about the number of friends she has brought home. "No, if you actually wanted what was best for Trini, you wouldn't do something like this!"

She pulls Trini up from the table and tugs her towards the front door. Trini seems to fold in on herself in a way that Kim's never seen and is strangely silent given the anger that she's practically vibrating with. 

Her mom yells something from the dining room, and Kim spares a thought to Trini's little brothers and of them having to grow up in this environment. She also thinks of Trini's father, who sat back and said nothing throughout the whole dinner. Then she's focusing on Trini again and all but dragging her across the lawn to her car.

Once they're on the road, Kim says, "Your mom is horrible!"

Trini hasn't stopping looking down at her knees since they got in the car. "She can be awful sometimes, but she's my mom."

Kim remembers the way it always takes Trini awhile to open up, so she drives around aimlessly, making large loops around the downtown core and driving slowly through different residential areas. It's dark outside when Trini finally raises her head. 

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have invited you over."

"It's not your fault your mom decided to be so shitty," she points out. 

"She doesn't know what to do with me."

"That's not really a good excuse." Kim sighs. "Is she always that bad?"

"No, she's not..." Trini sounds like she's sighing too, but it seems sad more than angry. "I think she really thought we were dating, and that brought out her... dislike for what she's decided is my identity. It's never been quite so... intense."

"Does she treat your dad and brothers the same way?" Kim asks. 

"No, it's always just been me and that didn't start until she found out I might not bring a boy home." 

"I'm not driving you back there," Kim decides. "You can spend the night at my place."

She can practically hear the eye roll when Trini says, "My mom will love that."

"I don't really care what your mom thinks," Kim says and drives them both to her home.

The next morning, they stop back at Trini's house long enough for Trini to grab her backpack, clothing, toiletries, and some other items. Kim expects Trini's mom to put up some kind of fight, but she just stands in the front hallway with a disapproving look on her face and doesn't do anything to stop Trini from leaving. 

Kim debates telling her off for the night before, for being willing to watch her daughter walk out without a word, and for being so generally hateful, but she figures it won't do any good and will only make things more stressful for Trini. 

Trini returns home two weeks later when her mom isn't around to spend time with her brothers, but otherwise she refuses to go back, and given all the time Kim and Trini end up spending together, it comes as no surprise when they ace their biology assignment.

 

**four**

Just before midterms start, Kim is kidnapped by one of Rita's monsters when it grabs her off the street in broad daylight. She finds herself trapped in some kind of cave made up entirely of crystals that glow faintly green. She's not morphed when she's taken, and she doesn't panic until she tries to morph and realizes that she can't. 

She explores the cave for what feels like an hour, but doesn't find any way out. When she starts trying to punch her way out, Rita suddenly appears before her. 

"Silly girl, you know you're trapped inside my Diamond creature yet you still try to escape from here," Rita says.

Kim didn't know that, but she's unwilling to give Rita an inch so she tells her, "I'll make it out or my friends will get me out." 

Rita smiles, and then next thing she knows, Rita is much, much closer. From only a foot away, Rita circles around Kim and runs her sharp nails across Kim's neck. "Your friends are already trying to save you and they're failing."

Kim tries to step away from Rita but finds that he can't. Somehow Rita is holding her whole body still except for her face. She struggles against the hold to not avail, and then she buries the fear she feels and settles for glaring at Rita.

"Your lover is with them," Rita says, matter-of-fact, and Kim doesn't let her confusion show even though she has no idea who Rita is talking about. "She's trying hard to save you even as we speak."

It's only then with the use of pronouns that Kim clues in to what Rita is thinking, and she laughs in Rita's face. 

Rita pulls back but doesn't let Kim go. "Is something funny? Your lover is about to die."

Kim lets herself grin. "She's going to kick your ass!"

Rita frowns. "And here I was going to be generous and keep you awake to witness her death." 

Rita pulls back the hand that was touching Kim's neck and holds it up for Kim to see. Her palm starts glowing green and gold and Rita lets its glow get brighter and brighter before she slams that same palm against Kim's stomach. Kim tries to cry out but just as suddenly as she feels pain and the faint tingle of magic, everything goes dark. 

When Kim wakes up, she's lying on a biobed in the Command Center with Alpha running medical scans on her.

"She's awake!" he calls, and soon the relieved faces of Trini, Billy, Jason, and Zack appear over her.

They tell her that Rita used her as a hostage, and they tell her how they defeated the monster without her zord's help. They also tell her how it was only after the monster went down that Rita revealed that Kim was trapped inside it, and that it took them hours to break through the crystals that were holding her captive. 

What happened to Billy is still fresh -- and will always be fresh -- in her mind, so she's relieved when she learns that throughout the whole ordeal, Alpha managed to track her life signs through her power coin, even if he couldn't determine where she was. Her life signs never wavered and no one had to fear that they had. 

Alpha finishes his scans and allows Kim to sit up. Besides some bruises and strange burn-like marks on her body, the latter from whatever magic Rita had used to restrain her, she's fine physically. Alpha starts passing a regenerator over her burns, but Trini takes it from him. She carefully turns Kim's arm over and runs the device over a burn on her wrist. 

Trini doesn't say anything as she examines Kim from head to toe, even helping her strip down to her underwear to get at the marks that cover her whole body, and to get at the multicolored bruise that's taken over her stomach. 

"I'm glad we found you," Trini says when she's done healing the last of the wounds on Kim's body. She doesn't look at Kim when she says it, and she avoids Kim's eyes by putting the regenerator back in its port on the wall.

"What wrong?" Kim asks. When Trini doesn't respond, Kim reaches out and gently places her hand on Trini's shoulder.

Trini puts her hand over Kim's and finally meets her eyes. The first thing Kim notices is that her eyes are full of tears. She immediately and instinctively pulls Trini in for a hug. Trini comes to her willingly and buries her face against her neck. She feels Trini's arms tighten around her and squeezes Trini back.

She's almost forgotten that she had asked a question when Trini replies, her voice muffled by Kim's skin, "I was scared we wouldn't be able to get to you. Alpha said you were okay, and I believed him, but... we spent hours trying and we couldn't figure out how to break through..." She doesn't say anything else, but she makes a pained noise that sounds like a sob. 

"You rescued me though. I'm right here," Kim reminds her softly. She makes no move to pull away and neither does Trini, and they stay wrapped around each other for a long time.

 

  
**five**

Zack pulls Kim aside at lunch a week later and asks, "Are you and Trini dating?"

Despite so many others having this same misconception, she's still thrown by the question, partially because it's coming from Zack who knows them both so well.

"What? No, we're friends."

The smirk on his face tells her that he doesn't believe her. "Uh huh."

"I'm serious, Zack. We're friends. That's all."

"Why?"

"Why are we friends?"

Zack rolls his eyes. "Why do you think that's all you are?"

Kim sighs and leans against the brick wall at her back. At the far end of the hall, two girls are talking by their lockers, but otherwise, the hallway is empty. "You don't get it. Her friendship is more than I could ever ask for."

Zack is suddenly quiet in that thoughtful way of his. She appreciates that given his love of spontaneity and rushing into things, that he's always careful and patient when it comes to the people he loves. She considers herself privileged to be one of those people.

"I'm not trying to deny that," he says after a moment. "I'm just saying that sometimes I see the way you look at her, and I think you two could be something more. I mean, I thought you already might be something more."

It's not like she hasn't thought about it. Since that barista brought it up, it's been an idea she's revisited often, but it's not something she's ever let herself think too hard about.

She remembers the obstacle she thought of back at the café the first time this came up and tells Zack, "I'm not even sure she's interested."

Zack snorts, but his tone is serious when he says, "You didn't see her when Rita held you hostage. Trini was willing to take on a sixty-foot monster single-handedly if it meant saving you."

The girls at the other end of the hall finally finish their chat, close their lockers and walk off, leaving Zack and Kim alone in the hallway. "You know that we'd all fight any monster if it meant rescuing any one of us."

"Yeah, but it's not just that. You should know that she looks at you the same way you look at her."

Shocked, Kim turns so she's facing Zack. "Really?"

He nods. "Yeah. I'm not sure how you don't notice it."

Kim isn't sure what to do with this piece of information, but she likes the way it makes her feel -- like something she thought unlikely is suddenly possible.

"I'm not saying you have to go down that route," Zack continues. "I'm just saying you should at least let yourself consider it."

For the first time, Kim lets herself consider it. She dedicates much of the next week to thinking about the pros and cons. 

She thinks about all the time they already spend together, and how easily they get along, and she thinks about how easy it would be to let herself love Trini another way. She imagines that being with Trini as a partner would be like adding a layer on top of the amazing layers of friendship they've already built.

She also worries about all the ways asking Trini out could potentially go wrong, especially with Trini still staying with her. The last thing Kim wants is to make Trini feel like she has to agree to something she's not interested in just to maintain her refuge.

She tells Zack her concerns and he pats her on the back and says, "You two are stronger than that. Like, would you be upset at her if she said no?"

"Of course not!" 

Zack smiles. "And would you be happy even if you just stayed friends?"

She's already feeling defensive, so her tone's vehement when she replies, "Yes!"

"Then you have nothing to worry about. Trini knows this about you. She's not going to think you're going to stop talking to her if she turns you down. Which she won't, by the way."

Zack sounds sure, and talking to him helps relieve the worst of her worries, but afterwards she's still nervous about asking Trini out.

Kim's also not sure when to bring it up, but then they're driving home from school a few days later and Kim turns to look at Trini when they're stopped at a red light. Trini's bathed in sunlight as she looks out the window, and she smiling at nothing in particular. She looks happy, and Kim doesn't think she's ever looked as beautiful.

"So hey, I was thinking..." she says when the light changes and they're moving again. "And you don't have to say yes, okay? If you're not interested in this, then that's totally cool with me. It doesn't have to change anything."

She glances over at Trini and Trini has turned towards her, giving Kim her full attention. 

Kim adjusts her grip on the steering wheel. She tries to focus on the road and then turns onto a side street and pulls over so she can actually focus on Trini when she does this.

Kim shifts in her seat, looks Trini in the eye and asks, "How would you feel if I asked you out on a date?"

Kim expects to wait for Trini to think about it. She's mentally prepared herself to wait an hour or more, but the corners of Trini's lips immediately quirk upwards and she replies, "I'd be fine with it."

"You would?" Kim asks, thrown by the fast reply. "You wouldn't worry--" She cuts herself off as it hits her that Trini just said yes.

She finds herself smiling not just because it was the answer she was hoping for, but also because Trini, who always takes time to come up with how she wants to respond to things, especially emotionally charged things, didn't have to think about what she was going to answer.

Which meant that she'd already known how she wanted to answer this particular question.

Kim's nervousness disappears like it was never there at all, replaced by something warm and new, but worth exploring. 

"Are you going to ask me out or what?" Trini asks, smiling back at her. "I'm waiting over here."

Kim laughs and the words she fretted about are easy to say. "Do you want to go out with me?"

Trini's smile somehow grows even more brilliant when she replies, "Yes."

 

**\+ one**

The barista behind the counter at the café is the same one from all those months ago. She greets Kim warmly. "Long time no see. What can I get you?"

Kim orders herself and Trini drinks and then adds, "And two chocolate-chip muffins."

As Kim pays for the order, the barista asks, "How's your girlfriend?"

Trini chooses this moment to come back from securing them a table. She bumps her bicep against Kim's and tells the barista, "She's great."

This causes Kim to grin and she doesn't stop grinning, even when drinks and plates in hand, Trini leads her to the same table from all those months ago. 

Trini nabs a chunk of Kim's muffin the second they're seated so Kim retaliates by spearing Trini's muffin on her fork. She spends the next several minutes trying to keep it away from Trini while defending her own muffin from capture. Eventually, Trini manages to steal Kim's muffin, and Kim agrees to return Trini's muffin in exchange for her own, even though hers has multiple pieces missing from it at this point.

In the aftermath, they end up laughing, their heads bowed together. Trini's eyes are shining brightly with mirth and joy as they flicker down to Kim's lips, and when Trini leans in closer in invitation, Kim meets her half-way and kisses her.


End file.
